Product & commercial photography
The final task for this course is to produce a product photography. Product photography is a form of commercial photography that has the goal of presenting a product in the best possible photographic way.
Based on practising portrait photography in the last weeks during this course and because of “my passion for fashion” I have decided to shoot jewellery.
My inspiration comes from nature most of the time as I mentioned it in my previous blogs. A piece of jewellery is very attractive to most women. When we see a ring, earrings, a bracelet, a necklace we surround it like butterflies surround flowers. My idea was to connect female beauty, fashion, jewellery and butterflies together in an artistic style. It was obviously impossible to get real butterflies to pose for me so I used fake ones as a prop.
I decided to shoot outside to enhance the connection with nature. The initial idea was to use only available natural light but it was overcast that day. In order to get a bit more light I used my off camera flash speed light with umbrella, a reflector and a portable small light with orange gel. I captured all images with my camera Nikon Z6, a prime lens 85mm/f1.8S and a CPL filter.
My great inspiration is a well known fashion and portrait photographer Mario Testino OBE.
Mario Testino OBE
(Born 1954)
Born in Lima in 1954 to a traditional Catholic family, remote from the worlds of fashion and Hollywood, Testino moved from Peru to London in 1976. It was during apprenticeships at the studios of John Vickers and Paul Nugent that he made his first attempts as a photographer, inspired by how photography masters documented the society of their times. Testino is an artistic vocabulary that has always transgressed gender, mixing and defying masculinity and femininity and suggests sensuality rather than sexuality. His photographs have been published internationally in magazines such as Vogue, V Magazine and Vanity Fair. He has contributed to the success of leading fashion and beauty houses, creating images for brands from Gucci, Burberry, Versace and Michael Kors to CHANEL, Estée Lauder and Dolce & Gabbana.
My moodboard
I was looking for inspiration on Pinterest, Internet and my garden.
My final shot
1/200s, f/4, ISO 100, prime lens 85mm/f1.8S
I focused on the ring to draw attention to the jewellery, the rest of the image is slightly blurred. The ring is sharp and textured.
It is always difficult to pick one final image. These are other images I considered for final presentation.
Showcase of my other work:
Studio product photography
I shot the following images in the studio setting. I used a black backdrop, soft box light, umbrella light and off camera flash/speedlight. My friend was posing for me. The product on these photographs is jewellery and flowers. I edited all images in Lightroom.
